Word Power!
4. Words are Food
Jesus had much
to say about “bread and the word”. He made the following
statements:
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.”
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never
hunger, and He who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
“I am the living bread, and the words I speak are spirit
and they are life.”
He went on to teach His disciples to pray “Give us this day
our daily bread.”
Matthew.
4:4, 6:11; John 6:35, 63
When our
physical bodies are hungry, we go and eat. It’s as simple
as that. We can even do it without giving much thought to
it other than, “What is there to eat?” or
“What do I feel
like eating?” And in my case, if there’s a bag of chips, or
leftover popcorn anywhere near me, I can start eating
without even thinking, because I’ve developed some bad
eating habits. I’ve found out in my own life that hard as
it may seem to be, bad habits are breakable, and good
habits are “makeable.” I’ve actually developed a taste for
foods I never thought I could eat. I did this by tasting
them, eating them because I knew they were good for me, and
telling myself over and over, “I sure do like this!”
Truthfully, (weren’t we
talking about speaking truth in Article 3?)
my
husband Harlas taught me how to do this. He was the one who
learned to like Diet Pepsi as opposed to Pepsi by telling
himself that he sure liked it, and how good it tasted. And
He’s the one who keeps saying to me, “Here, Sharon, just
try a bite/drink of this.” Thanks, Harlas!
The same dynamic applies to our spiritual “body”, our
“inner man”, or the “hidden man of the heart” as our spirit
is sometimes called. Our spirits need spiritual food daily.
Spiritual food feeds our spirits so they can grow and be
healthy and strong. Jesus’ words are spirit and they are
life (John 6:63). God’s words are our spiritual food and
they are life, they build and sustain life in us! Come on,
try a bite!
From my experience, the more of the Word I read and speak
and put into my mind, the more of the Word I want to read.
I can “eat” until I’m full! Referring to the Scripture
verses above, this fullness is meant to be achieved daily.
In that sense, every day I can eat my fill and not be
hungry for that day. We Christians talk of hungering and
thirsting for more of God. That may sound like an opposite
stance from never hungering or thirsting, but the meaning
behind that is that we don’t have to go hungry or thirsty,
for when we come to Jesus, He fills us up. The daily part
means that every day we can eat until we are saturated with
the Word. Then we go away from the “table” and let the Word
settle in our hearts; we meditate on it, and let God speak
to us through those words. Then the next day we eat or read
more. This is the way our spirits grow, and the way we
increase our capacity to learn more, and understand more of
the Word; our lives are changed by this! We grow as a
person on the inside.
God’s Word is Spirit and Life! When we read His Word, it is
like pumping life into us! Picture it as getting a blood
transfusion of pure untainted, healthy blood. And the Holy
Spirit is sometimes referred to as the Breath of Life.
Reading God’s Word is like breathing in oxygen, which our
lungs need desperately to live! Our inner man is literally
hungering and thirsting for the Word of God.
When God reveals or makes a verse in the Bible clear to me,
it is the most exciting thing! Has your life become humdrum
or sort of blah? Do you want to feel alive? Try “eating” a
daily dose of God’s Word! This will sustain you throughout
your day, and change your life!